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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. | 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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THE 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL 



OP THE 



Congregational Sabbath School 



WETHERSFIELD, CONN., 

August aist, 18©7. 




HARTFORD: 

PRESS OF CASE, LOCKWOOD AND COMPANY. 
1867. 



6^^4> 



#>^' 



THE 



OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 



OF THE 

CONGREGATIONAL SABBATH SCHOOL 

IN 

^V^ETHERSFIELD, 

:f^o:fl the iriEi.j^FL iseT". 



SUPERINTENDENT, 

RICHARD A. ROBBINS. 

ASST. SUPERINTENDENT, 

ELIZABETH R. ADAMS. 

SECRETARY, 

JOHN LOVELAND. 



TEACHERS — MALE. 



HORACE WOLCOTT, 

JOHN LOVELAND, 

Rev. CHARLES B. McLEAN, 



MARTIN S. GRISWOLD, 
DBA. JOHN WELLS, 
ELISHA CARPENTER. 



FEMALE. 



Mrs. EMILY GRISWOLD, 
» HANNAH PRATT, 
" HANNAH M. RUSSELL, 
" HARRIET ROBBINS, 
'• MABEL B. STILLMAN, 
" ESTHER GALPIN, 

Miss LUCY A. HANMER, 
" ESTHER BIDWELL, 
" EMILY B. HAVENS, 
" ELIZABETH SHEPARD, 



Miss MARTHA WELLS, 

" AMELIA WELLS, 

" KATE BODWELL,' 

♦' CHARLOTTE BODWELL, 

" ADDIE WILLARD, 

'' JANE MYGATT, 

" JANE SPAULDING, 

" FRANCES A. DILLINGS, 

" MARY M. AYRAULT, 

•« JANE FRANCIS. 



I. 

PREPARATIONS. 



The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Wethersfield Sabbath 
School Union occurred in August, A. D. 1867. As the 
time drew near, the Superintendent proposed and the teachers 
and scholars at once agreed, that the event should be appro- 
priately commemorated. 

A historical address and a collation naturally suggested 
themselves, and a presentation of some sort to Horace Wolcott, 
who had been a teacher in the school from its organization, was 
soon determined on. Former members of the school who had 
removed to known places of residence, were informed by letter 
of the design. They sent cordial replies warmly approving 
the plan, and those whose circumstances of business or family 
permitted, gladly promised to come and participate in our 
jubilee. Those who had been pupils of Mr. Wolcott inclosed 
contributions towards the gift to their gratefully remembered 
instructor. 

Thus encouraged, willing hands and cheerful hearts hasten- 
ed the various preparations. 

The morning of the Anniversary was bright. Recent rains 
had imparted the freshness of June to the foliage and the flow- 
ers ; while the air was, for an August day, unusually clear 
and soft. Early in the forenoon, the old but well-kept church 
was opened and aired ; a large rude tent was stretched between 
the church and the vestry, and forward nearly to the path in 
front of the church ; the inquisitive rays of the sun were ex- 
cluded from the west end by sail-cloth hung from the trees 



6 

opposite the path ; a table was built which extended from the 
front of the tent nearly to the church-yard fence ; and a small 
platform for out-of-door speaking was erected behind the 
church and, without design of course, directly against the 
pulpit within. Seats, some constructed, some brought from 
the vestry, were dispersed among the adjacent trees. The 
vestry was converted into a store-house of good things. 

By noon nicely covered baskets converging from all parts 
of the town to the vestry had been emptied of their tempting 
contents, and the table covered with snowy cloths, fragrant 
with flowers and crowded with most inviting viands, each 
separate article of which was a distinct expression by some 
person of heart-felt interest and good-will. 



II. 

IN THE CHURCH 



At one o'clock the school gathered in the vestry to form by 
classes and to receive from the Superintendent directions as 
to the order and manner of proceeding. At half past one 
teachers and children marched into the church and were seat- 
ed in the gallery, filling it with winsome and happy faces. 
The pulpit was occupied by Rev. Theodore M. Dwight, (the 
secretary of the school in 1824,) and Rev. Moses C. Welch, 

a pupil in .) On the platform was seated the present 

Superintendant, Richard A. Robbins, and all his living prede- 
cessors, William Guild, (of Newport, R. I.,) Leonard R. 
Welles, William Willard and Elisha Johnson. The pupils 
of Mr. Wolcott, old and young, of both sexes, from classes 
of many years, were seated on the east side of the center 
aisle ;* and other scholars, not at present members of the 
school, on the west side of the same aisle. The remaining 
seats of the church were well filled by residents of the town 
and visitors. 

The pulpit was beautified with choice flowers, and the 
communion table fitly adorned with an immense bouquet of 
white and green, exquisite in its perfume. 

The exercises in the church were commenced by singing the 
hymn, Happy Day. Prayer was ofiered by Rev. Mr. Dwight. 
The choir and school united in singing the hymn, " Come 
Join our Celebration." 

Rev. Moses C. Welch then delivered the memorial address. 

* At least seveoty-five of his former pupils were present, though a number 
were seated in other parts of the house. 



THE 

MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 



THE RELATION OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL TO THE 
CHURCH. 

The Sunday-school continues the same, although its con- 
stituent parts, its officers and members, are subject to frequent 
change. The river which beautifies this valley is the same 
that it was years ago. We recognize the Connecticut of our 
boyhood, though its stream is continually flowing by. The 
waters go out into the ocean and are exhaled to the skies ; 
but the river remains useful and beautiful, delighting the eye 
and performing manifold offices of good to men. Sunday- 
school teachers arnd scholars change and pass away, some Into 
the ocean of life beyond our sight, others into the broader 
ocean of eternity. But the Sunday-school remains. We 
recognize the school of our childhood, though many faces are 
new, and many are present only in the misty mirror of a ten- 
der memory. 

Originating, as the Sunday-school is supposed, in benevo- 
lent effort to rescue the neglected children of the streets, 
children with no relation to the church, it has doubtless been 
a question with not a few, how the Sunday-school has a legit- 
imate place in an organization of church worshipers, and 
among a community of Christian households? What is its 
peculiar function when composed of youth whose parents 
have recognized the duty of imparting religious instruction 
and a knowledge of the bible ? Has it any place and any 
appropriate work in such circumstances ? 
2 



10 

These questions will perhaps find a satisfactory answer in 
a brief consideration of the proposition, that the Church, 

IN THE MIND AND PURPOSE OF GOD, IS NOT AN AGGREGATION OF 
INDIVIDUALS, BUT A SOCIETY OF HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES. I 
SAT, IN THE MIND AND PLAN OF GOD, IN THE INHERENT FITNESS 

AND ETERNAL CONSTITUTION OF THINGS, THE Church is an organ- 
ized body of families. 

1. This would naturally be inferred from the peculiar nor 
ture of the family. No one regards it as a temporary union 
of individuals, without identity of interest and destiny. On 
the contrary the family is conceived to be one in character, 
peculiarities and lot. It is recognized to be so entirely a 
unit, that we speak of a family-life as if it were an organized 
body, with its own vital existence. The individuals are re- 
garded as members of one body, together contributing to pre- 
sent to us the aspect of an organic whole, which we may treat 
as such, investing it in our thought with an inheritance from 
the past, a destiny in the future, and present responsibilities. 
We see the misfortune of one making all to suffer. We see 
the different members cheerfully accepting the family lot. 
Underneath the individual manifestations v^ behold a house- 
hold character to which we are ready to impute blame and 
to attach responsibility. 

And if we take our view from within the domestic circle, 
the organic character of the household is the striking feature 
of the internal economy. We see the various individuals, 
parents and children, by no means isolated, independent, un- 
related in their law of being and activity of life ; but, on the 
contrary, wholly incomprehensible, unless we recognize their 
mutual relation and dependence. The different members are 
necessary to one another, and the working of the whole de- 
pends upon the co-operation of all- the parts, according to 
their several capacities. Children inherit physical, mental 
and moral traits ; the whole constitution shows that there is 
in the child a meetness for partaking of the parental and 
family calling. It suffers on account of others' transgres- 
sions ; it has, by nature, the disabilities and sinfulness of the 



11 

race; it is differenced from other children by the family traits ; 
it is identified with the family allotment and state ; it is felt 
to be a part of one organic whole, the household. 

The constitution of the family exhibits intricate and appar- 
ently discordant variety of age, person, disposition, taste, 
with that complexity of composition and harmony of adjust- 
ment which is characteristic of all organisms. The relations 
of husband and wife, old and young, parents and children, 
fall into appointed orbits, securing order without interference, 
subordination without inferiority, loyalty without clannish- 
ness, unity without insipidity, harmony without monotony : 
everything bespeaks a structure which is the result of life. 

The affection of love, which is the vital breath of the house- 
hold, identifies itself with its object, and refuses to recognize 
separate life and destiny ; it diffuses the glow of sympathy 
over every member, and finds in each another self; it is a 
holy bond for good and virtue ; it is an adamantine chain for 
banding a family together in evil and sin ; it speaks in the 
address of Milton's Adam to Eve : 

" How can I live without thee ! how forego 
Thy sweet converse, and love so dearlv joined ! 
* * * * * ' * 

Should God create another Eve, and I 
Another rib afford, yet loss of thee 
Would never from my heart : no, no, I feel 
The link of Nature draw me : flesh of flesh, 
Bone of my bone, thou art." 

This law of organic unity, pronounced by the father of the 
human race, received the sanction of our Lord's re-enactment 
in His new kingdom : " They twain shall be one flesh ;" and 
as if to give the highest pitch of sanctity to this relation, or, 
rather, to show that it was originally constituted a most holy 
union — in order fitly to prefigure the union of Christ with 
His Church — the Holy Spirit of inspiration has likened the 
one to the other, making marriage a type of the mystical un- 
ion of the Church with her Lord. How, then, can any one 
reject the thought that, in the original constitution of things, 
in the mind and plan of God, it was designed that children 
should bear a part with their believing parents, in foretoken- 
ing the blissful unity of the Church, when united to her 
Lord in the kingdom of heaven ! 



12 

2. That the Church is an organized body of families, may 
be inferred also from the history of God's dealings iviih His 
chosen people. These have been covenants with households. 
A covenant was made with the only person of the ante-delu- 
vian world, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord — a cov- 
enant of deliverance from the flood ; and all of his house- 
hold were included in the terms of the covenant. From the 
few glimpses of human history between Noah and Abraham, 
we may infer that the idea of the household, as the central 
feature and vital element of organization, gradually faded 
from the mind of man. The tendency probably was, as in 
the Greek and Roman States, to confound the political with 
the natural union.* The descendants of Noah combined as 
clans or tribes, in which the household principle was feeble. 
The record of these iu Genesis, is rather a register of tribes, 
than a genealogical tree. 

But the family was too essential to the religious well-being 
of mankind to be suffered thus to lose itself. Divine Provi- 
dence interposed and separated a household from all associa- 
tion with its kindred, and by a sei«ies. of dislodgments and 
special revelations, prepared Abraham to be suitably imbued 
with the idea of a peculiar relation between God and his own 
household. Not himself only, but every man-child of his 
family, must receive the sign of the covenant. Again, the 
personal manifestations of Jehovah, as a God making cove- 
nant with households, were repeated under impressive and 
influential circumstances in the history of Jacob, a younger 
son, in order that the blessing of the covenant might not ap- 
pear a matter of inheritance, but of grace. 

Now when we consider that these events point to the Mo- 
saic period, and were a preparation for it — a vestibule, as it 
were, to the temple of the Theocracy — we are prepared to find 
there the same principle operating and conspicuous, which held 
so prominent a place in the patriarchal history. And nothing 
is more patent in the history of the Israelites, than that the 
household was recognized and dealt with in its corporate ca- 

* See Niebuhr's Hist. Rome, 1, " The Patrician Houses and the Curies." 



la 

pacity» Blessings and curses were pronounced upon house- 
holds. Punishments of a head of a household included all 
its members. It was a recognized principle that children are 
sharers with their parents in their moral history. In the le- 
gal enactments on Mount Sinai, Jehovah describes himself 
as " a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children, unto the third and fourth generation." Again 
we read : "I will set my face against this man and against 
his family." Job says : " How often is the candle of the 
wicked put out. * * God layeth up his iniquity for 
his children " And in Jeremiah it is written : " Thou rec- 
ompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their 
children." But the gracious operation of this law abounded 
much more ; if iniquity is visited upon the third and fourth 
generation, God " sheweth mercy unto thousands of genera- 
tions."* 

The household was kept distinct in the legal constitution. 
Tribes were divided into families, or clans, and families into 
households. Provision was made for the permanence of this 
sub-division in the distribution of land, which was held of 
God, and could not be alienated beyond the year of jubilee. f 
Thus the household was the unit of organization in the civil 
and religious polity of the Israelites. It was not the individ- 
ual, but the household, which was brought into prominence 
as the elemental idea in the church and State. In these ways 
the idea of the household, as a sacred principle, was made 
distinct and prominent in the Jewish mind. In our day it is 
quite the contrary. It is now the tendency to lose sight of 
this principle and to make the individual the unit of organ- 
ization and relation to the State. Hence arises the intense 
and disorganizing individualism which claims for every one, 
of either sex, the same relation to government, and, therefore, 
demands for all an equal share in political privileges and re- 
sponsibilities. 

If now we should inquire how this principle was manifested 



* See Deut. vii, 9. 

t See Lev. xxv ; and Lowman's " Civil Government of the Hebrews," Chap- 
ter iv. 



14 

as a vital part of the constitution with power to assert itself 
in the growth of the people, we should look to the conditions 
on which converts from the surrounding nations were intro- 
duced into the Jewish church. 
•And precisely here we shall find the policy of the Israelites 
conforming to the logical demands of their own history and 
constitution. For just as the theory and practice of the The- 
ocracy brouglit the people into the privileges of the Church 
and into covenant relations with God by households, so we 
find that proselytes were received in the same way. The chil- 
dren of the proselytes were admitted into the Church by the 
same rites of initiation which were required of their parents, 
namely : circumcision, baptism and oblation.* 

Thus the history of the Jewish people and of their customs 
abounds with evidence that God treated the household as en- 
dowed with a corporate capacity, by virtue of which the 
blessings of the covenant descended upon a house and made 
every member whole with its saving grace. The divine com- 
passion stooped to gather up even those little ones, of whom 
our Lord said, " Suffer little children to come unto me." 
Children were regarded as one with their believing parents, — 
not by a legal fiction simply, which the compassion of God 
will not allow to be disproved, but by an organic law, which 
makes it in all respects legitimate and just, to attribute the 
character of the parents to their offspring, and to confer 
benefits upon the latter which the covenant secures to the 
faith of the former. 

What now was to be expected of a Christian church gath- 
ered from a people who had inherited such ideas of the house- 
hold, and had been accustomed to such rites and observances 
as were practiced in the Jewish church ? We should expect 
that the prevailing types and ideas would pass over from one 
to the other, so far as they were not in violation of the spirit 
and design of the new church. Thus we find that the order 

* See Kosenmiiller, Scholia, Matt. m*6 ; Witsius, Oeconony of the Covenants, 
B. iv, ch. 16 ; and especially Lightfoot, Heb. a Tal. Ex., Matt Hi, 6. See also 
Kuinoel, Com. Matt. Hi, 6 ; and, for a statement of the argument on the disputed 
antiquity of Jewish baptism, see W. L. Alexander, in Kitto's Encyclopedia oj 
Biblical Literature, article, Proselyte. 



15 

of the Jewish Synagogue contributed somewhat to the organ- 
ization of the Christian church. And so, undoubtedly, with 
regard to the more fundamental idea of covenant relation, 
the Christian church has inherited the Jewish conception of 
the household. Unquestionably it was to be expected that 
the Christian church should be conceived, in the minds of its 
founders, as in thi^ respect, just what the Jewish church was, 
an organized body of households ; embracing children, from 
the very nature of the covenant relation, within the pale of 
the church, and so admitting them by the right of baptism, 
just as the children of proselytes were admitted into the Jew- 
ish church, and were then considered as full proselytes. It 
must have been the farthest possible from the mind of a Jew, 
when brought to the belief in Christ, and introduced into an 
Apostolic church, to regard himself as now for the first time 
severed from his household, and isolated from the religious 
condition of his children. 

We know that many of the first converts to Christianity were 
proselytes in the Jewish church. Suppose such an one had 
recently been admitted with his household to the highest 
privileges of the Temple service. His children have been 
baptised with him. In attending the service of the Syna- 
gogue on some Sabbath-day, he hears the Apostle Paul prov- 
ing out of the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. He is con- 
vinced and becomes a believer. His recent experience in 
passing from heathenism to the Jewish religion, leads him to 
bring his children with him for adoption into the new cove- 
nant which he is about to make with God. Is it conceivable 
that he will hear from Paul that the economy of the new 
covenant is, in this particular, radically different from the 
old ? That Christianity requires him to unlearn those lessons 
of household consecration, which he has learned of the Jews ? 
That the Christian church is less removed than Judaism from 
pagan views of household unity ? 

The Jew, under these circumstances, would hardly have 
understood the idea of a new covenant with God, which did 
not also include his offspring in the terms of the covenant. It 
would have been wholly foreign to the doctrine of the ances- 



16 

tral covenant, and alien to his notions of the household, as 
the unit of relationship to the church. It would have shock- 
ed his natural affections to learn that his children, whom he 
had ever regarded as heirs of the covenant of circumcision, 
were not to be introduced with him into the church of Christ, 
as fellow-heirs with him, thro' faith in a covenant-keeping 
God. 

And for one endeavoring to come down to the age of Christ, 
bringing with him the ideas of the old ^covenant, and the 
usages of the Jewish church, instead of going back to the 
New Testament age, carrying with him the individualism of 
modern times, for such an one, I say, it is.imposible to think 
that any other principle was adopted respecting the household 
of believers, than that which prevailed from the time of the 
patriarchs to the birth of Christ. 

In accordance with this principle the cliildren of believing 
parents are to be acknowledged as members of the body of 
Christ, and signed with the seal of this membership in the 
holy sacrament of baptism. The rite of infant baptism is 
unmeaning, unless it is a token of a covenant with God in 
Christ, the great head of the church. As a mere act of con- 
secration, however becoming, it might be performed by the 
father, in a parental dedication, instead of by the ordained 
minister, as an ordinance of the church. On the contrary, 
in the baptism of infants, is signified, among other things, 
the relationship of the children to the church.* 

* This view of the relation of baptized children to the church, is taught by 
Calvin in his formulary of baptism, in which he says, "Since He declares that 
the kingdom of heaven belongs unto them ; since he layeth his hands on them 
and commendeth them to God his father ; He doth sufficiently teach us that we 
must not exclude them_ from his church. Therefore we shall receive this child 
into his church." 

In the formulary submitted by John Knox to the General Assembly of Scot- 
land and approved by that body, we read ; "Which testimonies of the Holy 
Ghost assure us that infants are of the number of God's people, and that remis- 
sion of sins doth also belong to them in Christ. Therefore they cacnot, without 
injury, be debarred from the common sign of God's children." 

Richard Baxter, the non-conformist divine, and author *of the Saint's Rest, 
uses this language, in a prayer following the administration of baptism to a 
child : "We give Thee thanks, most merciful Father, * * * that thou hast ex- 
tended thy covenant of grace to believers and to their seed ; and hast now receiv- 
ed this child into thy covenant and thy church, as a member of Christ." 



17 

Having been brought into this relationship to the Church 
by baptism, the children of the Church are committed to its 
spiritual oversight. They are.to be fostered and nurtured as 
heirs of eternal life, through the covenant of grace. That 
they must be subjects of a personal regeneration is not to be 
lost sight of. But it is not for us to say when this shall be, 
or when it cannot be. '' The wind bloweth where it listeth, 
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence 
it Cometh or whither it goeth." 

To return to the question, what is the relation of the Sun- 
day-school to the Church ? We have found a point of con- 
nection, which enables us to consider it a vital and essential 
part of that organic body which we call the Church. It is 
made up, for the most part, we suppose, of children of be- 
lievers, who have received the seal of baptism. The Sunday- 
school scholars are, therefore, members of the body of Christ, 
in a covenant relation with God. The Church is bound to 
them, as to their parents, in bonds of mutual helpfulness 
The perfect, the mature members of the Church, are virtually 
sponsors for all the children of the Church. They are obli- 
gated to assist in the work of christian nurture and religious 
education. There are, of course, many ways, direct and in- 
direct, in which this may be done. Bat I am limited to that 
one which finds its readiest and fittest arena in the Sunday- 
school room. Here is happily provided an occasion for meet- 
ing these neophytes of the Church. Usage has established a 
most suitable channel for exercising the covenant guardian- 
ship, in the friendly yet reverent atmosphere of the school, 
and in the lessons of Biblical instruction. Here is the place 
for the Church, as such, to know and train and cherish the 
younger members of their own fold. Here is to be learned 
the fulness of the meaning of the charge, " Feed my lambs." 
Here is to be taught the natural expectation and the bounden 

In addition to these honored names, I quote the testimony of the Assembly of 
Westminster Divines, from whom proceeded the Confession of Faitli, the Cate- 
chism, and a Directory of Public Worship. In this last they say, "That children, 
by baptism, are solemnly received into the bosom of the visible church, distin- 
guished from the world, and them that are without, and united with believers." 

3 



18 

duty of assuming the obligations of vows made in infant bap- 
tism. Here is to be symbolized, in the mutual trustfulness of 
Christian affection, the oneness of believers ; and so will be 
unlearned that dreadful lesson, the learning of which has 
been attended with such painful results, that the children of 
believers are out of the fold of Christ. We read that our 
Lord was much displeased with His disciples because they re- 
buked those who brought little children to him. At the com- 
munion service in some churches, the communicants take 
seats in the body of the house, and all others go to the wall 
seats. In one such, I have seen a mother draw near to her 
Lord, but her little daughters parted from her, and instructed 
by a broad line of separation that they have no lot with Him, 
with whom their mother has made a cc enant for herself and 
her children. Like this is the instruction implicitly given to 
hundreds of children in the churches of our order. They 
never learn that the baptismal covenant has brought them 
into peculiar and solemn and tender relations with the God of 
their fathers. They are not taught that in an especial man- 
ner they are children of the Church, and are bound to grow 
up in it as their home, their proper place. They are not 
made familiar with the scriptural idea of the oneness of the 
Church, as an organized body of households. 

Now the Sunday-school is fitted to present this idea and 
enforce it on the mind of the Church It is properly a school 
of the Church. It is not a mere accidental appendage, hav- 
ingan origin in recent times and in aggressive missionary labors. 
It doubtless takes on its present form and modes of working 
from modern habits of thought. But the Sunday-school is 
the expression of the conviction of the Church, that her chil- 
dren have a claim on her for instruction and nurture. It 
must have had existence in some form, in all ages of the 
Church ; for the idea of household relationship to the Church, 
which has found expression in infant baptism, must have 
sought for the institution of some usage, in which the sense 
of duty could find relief in imparting religious instruction. 
And it is here I recognize the true position of the Sunday- 
school. It is a necessary department of the Church, because 



19 

its pupils are children of the Church, and members of the 
body of Christ ; and because it gives scope, as no other office 
can, for duties of sponsorship on the one hand, and the claims 
of religious nurture on the other. If no such vital relation 
could be established between Christians and the children of 
the Church, the duty of Bible instruction might be left, per- 
haps, to the conscience and affection of the parents. In ad- 
dition to the supremely important duty of instructing in the 
word of God, the Sunday-school opens a field for exercising 
those feelings of spiritual affection and Christian guardian- 
ship which the covenant of mutual helpfulness implies. Here 
the Christian parent may be won out of a tendency to isolate 
himself and family from a catholic fellowship of the saints ; 
and here he who has lost children to present sight, or who 
has none, can fill the void by assisting to train and preserve 
for the Church, those whom his Lord and theirs has cove- 
nanted to call His own. Thus the Sunday-school is not a 
contrivance for supplying supposable deficiencies of religious 
instruction at home. It is rather the harmonious develop- 
ment and growth of a living organization — a ripe cluster of 
grapes on that Vine, of which we are the branches. 

This conclusion is not affected by the missionary character 
of some schools, whose pupils have no relation to the Church ; 
nor by the mixed character of others. The missionary school 
belongs to a different department of church activity from 
that which we have been examining. In the one case, the 
work is within the kingdom of Christ, and is a work of edifi- 
cation — the preservation and training of His own sons and 
daughters for efficient service in the Master's cause. The 
other kind of Sunday-school is an attack upon the kingdom 
of darkness, to dimuiish its power, and to hasten its over- 
throw. 

And here may I be permitted to say that the Sunday-school 
of the Churcli is made to become somewhat a missionary Sun- 
day-school by the saddest of all perversions in our views of 
the gracious capacity there is in little children to become dis- 
ciples of Christ. What should we think of a state of society 
where the ideas and social customs were such that the ten- 



20 

dency was to lose children ? Where it was the commonest 
thing to hear the bell-man's cry, A lost child ! till the natural 
sympathy should become dulled "by a general conviction that 
it is the nature of children to get lost, and all that paren- 
tal affection and humanity can do is to organize societies and 
establish agencies for the recovery of lost children. What 
should we think of the waste of energies, the consumption of 
organized capital and efficiency, and the consequent miscon- 
ception of the proper function and end of the social state ? 
What of the results of such a state of things, in thousands 
of children wholly lost and irrecoverable, and in the destitute, 
impaired, enfeebled and altogether miserable condition of 
those who, after five, ten, or twenty years, are recovered and 
restored ? What progress could be expected in a society so 
blind to the first and fundamental duties of the social organ- 
ism ? Somewhat like this is that state of things which re- 
sults in anxious and exhaustive labors to recover the children 
of the Cliureh to that heirship and covenant of grace from 
which they have been suffered to wander. Such labors to 
recover wanderers keep back tlie Church from aggressive 
work against the kingdom of darkness, and such recovered 
wanderers can never render that service to the Church and to 
Christ, which they might have done without the loss and 
waste which they have suffered in wandering. 

It will be felt at once that, in this view of the Sunday- 
school, there is involved a recognition in the family of the 
true relationship of children to the Church. The character 
of the Sunday-school will correspond to the results of Christ- 
ian nurture in the household. If, in the family, children are 
trained as belonging to the world, and it is taken for grant- 
ed that they probably will be unregenerate till they have gone 
through some years of hardening in unsubmission to God, 
the Sunday-school must work at a disadvantage, and be 
turned somewhat out of its legitimate calling. But if, in the 
household, the manifest and leading purpose is to train up 
the family as a unit in the hope of eternal life, the Sunday- 
school, then, is permitted to supplement the labors of the 
parents, by adding to the suitable nurture of home, some ideas 



. 21 

of the kingdom of God and present citizenship therein, and 
some principles of combination in christian activity, which 
can be taught nowhere so effectively as in the Sunday-school, 

We have assembled to-day to celebrate the Fiftieth Anni- 
versary OF THE Wethersfield Sabbath-school. One hun- 
dred is the round number ; and an organization that reaches 
this hoary age is instinctively impelled to commemoration of 
its remote origin, and to an impressive menopnal of its history. 
But the complete circle of a century is so vast that few have 
opportunity of engaging in the solemnities of its celebration ; 
too few to form connecting links in a traditional chain of 
reminiscence, anecdote, personal recollection and trust-worthy 
tradition. When accordingly a society has traversed half the 
revolution of this great circle, they pause to recall the past 
and weld it to the present. Such a point have we reached 
to-day ; and we have met to pay our meed of respect and 
reverence to the founders of the Sabbath-school, and to get 
new impulses in reviewing its history and work. The period 
when this school was first opened, was distinguished by an 
unusual impulse of the church to look after the religious 
welfare of children, especially of such children as were neg- 
lected in the ordinary round of church activity, and were not 
reached by any system of education. Most of the Sunday- 
schools that were established in our country about this time 
appear to have had special reference to this class. A Con- 
necticut writer in 1819, speaking of the country at large, 
says : " The object of the Sabbath-schools is to instruct the 
ignorant of every age and condition in the great truths of 
Christianity. * * * The scholars consist of two great 
classes. Those who are entirely ignorant ; and those who, 
though they have learned to read, are either not all, or are 
imperfectly acquainted with the doctrines of religion." The 
first report of the American S. S. Union also exhibits proof 
of this statement in its list of publications for the use of Sun- 
day-schools. It tells of 11,000 alphabetical cards, 10,000 
spelling-books, 10,000 copies of the decalogue and 4,000 cate- 
chisms to aid in giving elementary instruction to children. 



22 

One object of the Sunday-school Society, established in Hart- 
ford in 1818, was " to teach the rudiments of learning so far 
as may be necessary for the attainment of religious knowl- 
edge." It is difficult for us, in the present plenitude of 
educational institutions, to conceive of such ignorance and 
neglect of children only fifty years ago. But at that time 
Connecticut and Massachusetts were the only states in which 
public provision had been made for the education of children, 
at all adequate to the necessities of the poor. And besides 
these two, no state at all had made provision for this need, 
excepting New York, Delaware, and Kentucky, and in these 
very inadequate to the wants of the population. About the 
beginning of this century, the conscience of the church ap- 
pears to have been quickened to recognize this deplorable 
condition of the young, and to provide a remedy. Accord- 
ingly we read of schools starting up here and there, at first 
singly and without apparent knowledge of one another, then 
in local unions, and finally combining, in 1824, in the benefi- 
cent organization of the American Sunday-school Union. 

This Wethersfield school belongs in time therefore to this 
general movement; but not in character. One cannot fail 
to discover two different impulses prompting to the establish- 
ment of Sunday-schools. One is that which, as we have 
seen, impelled Christians to go out into the by-ways and 
gather up the neglected and wandering children of irreligious 
families. The other was the spirit which has inspired Chris- 
tians to recognize obligations to the children ot the church. 
It was this which led the fathers of the church in Washing- 
ton, Litchfield county, Conn., in 1781, to gather their children 
under the trees on the green in the noon of the Sabbath, and 
there instruct tliem in the word of God, and in the Assembly's 
Catechism. It was this which led Dr. Bellamy of Bethlehem, 
Conn., "to meet the youth of his congregation on the Sab- 
bath for catechetical instruction and recitation from the 
Bible."* Such was undoubtedly the character of most of the 



* Examples similar to these might be multiplied to almost any extent, says 
Dr. Hawes, in Contributions to Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut. 



Sunday-schools in Connecticut upon the start. It could not 
have been true, except in two or three cities, that children 
could be found whose religious education had been neglected. 
The piety of the first settlers had made provision by legal 
enactment for securing the observance and perpetuation 
of the custom of religious instruction. One of their earliest 
laws required the parents of each family, once every week, to 
catechise their children in the principles of religion. The 
selectmen of each town were authorized to see that every 
family was furnished with Bibles and catechisms. So late as 
in 1714, resolutions were adopted by the legislature author- 
izing magistrates to maintain the observance of these laws. 
It was these principles and such legislation that established the 
general custom of catechetical instruction in the family. This 
is kept up in some houseJiolds to this day. Many of us have 
recited catechism in accordance with this venerable usage. 
And probably no one present here but has heard how his 
fathers were wont, on Sunday night, after the early supper, 
to call the family together, and pass the questions of the 
catecliism around the room, from the aged grandmother to 
the little child on the parental knee. This, I have been re- 
cently told by one of the oldest inhabitants, was the general 
custom in this town in his early days. In this town also, (as 
in others of the state,) the ordinary studies and books of the 
district school were laid one side towards the close of the 
Saturday forenoons, and the school, arranged in one class, re- 
cited to the teacher or to the venerable pastor. Dr. Marsh, 
from the shorter recension of the Assembly's Catechism. It 
was also Dr. Marsh's custom to visit the families of his con- 
gregation once a year, in order, and to catechise the younger 
members of the household. 

It was natural that a colony which, more than any other 
state, recognized God as the Lawgiver and Head of the Com- 
monwealth,* should endeaver thus to make its children famil- 



* The original Coustitution of Connecticut, formed by voluntary compact, 1639, 
contains the following expressions : — 

"Knowing that the word of God requireth * * that there should be an or- 
derly and decent government established according to God, * * * we do 



24 

iar with the duties of a citizen in the kingdom of God, and 
should take upon itself responsibilities which we have come 
to regard as more appropriate to the church. And in such a 
state it was to be expected that the children would not be 
found either illiterate or unfamiliar with religious instruction. 
This was so in Wethersfield. When therefore a few ladies 
suggested the idea of a Sunday-school for the children of the 
congregation, it is not strange that they met with small favor 
at first from some individuals.* But woman's native intui- 
tiveiiess and ideality saw the possibilities of good in a higlier 
nurture of the young, and overcame the momentary opposi- 
tion. A meeting of citizens was called to the academy-hall 
on a week-day to consult and determine what should be done. 
It was decided to open a school on the following Sunday. In 
deference to the prejudices of the more conservative part of 
the church, the school was opened in the hall of the academy. 
On the second Sunday it went to the more appropriate place 
in the sanctuary, and influential citizens assisted in the work 
of instruction. But the names of three are spoken of with 
grateful emotions whenever a survivor refers to the school 
and to its truest and most faithful friends. These are Miss 
Abigail Goodrich, Miss Rebecca Mitchell and Miss Martha 
Riley. Miss Riley and Miss Goodrich are mentioned as the 
persons on whom devolved the main charge and conduct of 
the school in its infancy. 

In 1820 the school appears to have received the recognition 
of the church : for the first records, which begin in 1824, 
speak of the institution of the school in 1820. This has been 
thought by some to contradict the belief that the school was 

enter into combination and confederation together, to maintain and preserve the 
liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus." " Magistrates shall have 
power to administer justice according to the laws here established, and for want 
thereof according to the rule of the word of God." 

* The ladies visited Mr. Horace Wolcott in his hay-field one bright afternoon, 
and there first presented the subject to him and received his encouraging assur- 
ance of sympathy and probable co-operatioii. Imagination can easily picture a 
charming scene. How little did the actors know the significance and value of 
that brief interview in the fragrant meadow. — Com. of ■ Pub. 



§5 

first opened in 1817. But the evidence is ample, both posi- 
tive and circumstantial, that the year 1817 was the date of 
its birth. As the earliest records speak of its being " attached 
to the church^'' owned by it as a proper department of Chris- 
tian labor and taken under its sanction, it seems most satis- 
factory to identify this acknowledgment with the " institu- 
tion" of the record in 1824. 

In 1824 the Sunday-school took on a new form and became 
'* The Wethersfield Sabbath-school Union." A constitution 
and rules were adopted in September, and in October the 
school was formally organized by the election of a Superin- 
tendent, and a Secretary and Treasurer.* William Guild, a 
teacher in one of the schools, was the first Superintendent, 
and continued to be chosen annually till his departure from 
the town in 1828. 

During the first years of its existence the school met only 
in the summer. In 1823 it began to have continuous sessions 
through the year. This late date of 1823 probably marks the 
introduction of stoves into the meeting-house. We may im- 
magine that a fastidious taste in a warm-blooded body would 
object long to unsightly cast-iron boxes and black stove-pipes 
in the house of worship. Many more were influenced perhaps 
by the strange feeling that the fervor of piety would fall, if the 
wintry temperature sliould be raised by artificial warmth. 
In 1817 very few meeting-houses in Connecticut were fur- 
nished with stoves. The churches of Hartford and New 
Haven, which would probably take the lead in such an inno- 
vation, did not supply themselves till about this time ; the 
Center Church in Hartford in 1815, and the Center Church 
in New Haven about five years later. It is handed down by 
trustworthy tradition, that on the first Sunday in 1800, Dr. 
Strong, the predecessor of Dr. Hawes in Hartford, was com- 
pelled, by the extremity of the cold, to imitate the priests of 
the Romish Church, and administer the communion to the 



* Adopted on Friday evening', September 17,1824, See Appendix A. The 
records also tell us that on Friday, December lOth, 1824, it was " Voted, unani- 
mously, that the Wethersfield Sabbath. School Union become auxiliary to the 
Connecticut Sunday School Union." — Qom. of Pub. 

4 



26 

laity in only one kind, the wine being found frozen when it 
was about to be poured out.* 

At this period in the history of the school, the sessions were 
held for a time in the district school-house. For certain rea- 
sons this was found to be a suitable place, and the school met 
here for an indefinite while. This change of place is not as- 
sociated with anything noticeable in the history of the school, 
and would scarcely be worthy of mention, except that it 
serves to remark a usage peculiar to those times. The school 
met then in the hour before the afternoon service. When 
the bell rang to call the worshipers together, the school 
marched by classes from the school house to the church, each 
teacher preceding the class, and in this order took seats in 
the gallery pews. In this way order and decorum were es- 
tablished in the galleries, where before, in some Connecticut 
churches, disturbance had prevailed, very much doubtless to 
the annoyance of the minister, and the detriment of the 
youth. After the services were concluded the classes went 
in the same order homeward, until they reached the house of 
the teacher, or came where the forks of the road required the 
column to break up and separate. This school, marching 
thus to church, would present to modern eyes a very quaint 
appearance. The little girls with their chip-hats and calico 
aprons, and the boys clad in butternut home-spun, must have 
looked little like the modern Sunday-school children. 

The lessons of the school at first were verses of Scripture 
and the catechism. f There were no classes in spelling nor 
reading. Singing was not practiced. The Rev. Mr. Tenney, 
the colleague of Dr. Marsh, opened the school with prayer. 



*New Englander, July 1866, Art. III. 

t The diligence of the scholars of that day may be inferred from the records of 
1823. Dming three months of that year, George Tenney, of verses of the Bible 
and of Hymns, and of answers to questions in the catechism and other Scripture 
questions, repeated 1,450; W. J. Tenney 1,140, Jno. Wright 1,000, Thomas 
Wells 1,660, Charles Wells 2,745, Alexander Beaman 1,322, Charles Badger 600, 
Peter Stillman 1,123, Charles Stillman 900, Lucy Blinn 1,144, Mary Adams 910, 
Nancy Latimer 2,313, Julia Chester 641, Lucy Francis 2nd 553, Prudence Webb 
518, Rhoda Stillman 2,700, Charlotte DeWitt 932, Sally Butler 1,038, Jane Har- 
ris 690, Eliza Crane 964, Martha Bobbins 879, Catharine Hurlbut — . This 
record was kept only for a short period. — Com. of Pub. 



27 

The school had to wait some years for a library. But an in- 
genious device was early adopted to stimulate the zeal of the 
scholars. This was a system of tickets, a sort of Sunday- 
school currency, not ill-adapted to times when pennies were 
less abundant than now, and more highly appreciated. The 
tickets were blue and red, — probably pasteboard cards with 
verses of Scripture printed in red or blue ink. Six blue 
tickets were equal to one red one, and a red ticket was ac- 
counted worth a half-cent. The blue tickets were given, one 
at a time, for excellence in recitation, punctual attendance, 
and good behavior, both in school and during public worship. 
On the other hand, failure in these points of duty was punish- 
ed with the forfeit of a ticket. The tickets were redeemed 
every three months with religious books and tracts. It is 
easy to see that it would take a good while for restless boys 
and girls to earn a reward-book in this way. 

The first account of a library is this remark of the Secre- 
tary, Oct. 10, 1824: "The Sabbath-school library was opened 
yesterday for the first time." Books were then much less 
abundant than at this day ; and of that periodical literature, 
with which society is now flooded, there was in 1824 scarcely 
a beginning. Sunday-school books were therefore read with 
eagerness by all the households of the congregation. And the 
expense account of the Treasurer in those years, shows that 
they were not thrown aside when apparently worn out, but 
mended and repaired, at a cost of four dollars and forty-four 
cents in one year, and two dollars and twenty-one cents in 
another. 

Jhe first annual report on record was made in May, 1825. 
As the first report, and as showing the relation of the School 
to the church, it is an interesting paper. 

"Report of the Wetliersfield Sunday-school, auxiliary to 
the Conn. S. S. Union. Instituted May, 1820 ; became aux- 
iliary to the Conn. S. S. Union, in Dec, 1824. Attached to 
the church under the pastoral care of the Rev. Caleb J. 
Tenney. Hours of instruction from 1 to 2 o'clock. 

Total number connected with the school during the 

year, 173 



28 

Total number remaining with the school, - - - 108 
Number of visits made by the pastor to the school 

during the year, - - 3 

Amount of subscriptions and donations to the school 

during the year, $34.00 

******* 

Tho* all the scholars have not, yet most of them have at- 
tended with great regularity, and have, at the school and in 
the house of God, when several of their teachers have been 
seated with them, conducted with much propriety. Many 
parents have not given that decided countenance and en- 
couragement to tlie school which were much to be desired. 
******* 

The scholars have generally felt a deep interest in their in- 
struction and privileges, and have most manifestly treasured 
up much useful religious knowledge, which we may hope is 
good seed, that will, under divine influence, be in many cases 
fruitful. 

The teachers were generally pious when they began their 
services. A number of them have been indefatigable. Their 
record is on higli. They despised not those little ones, whose 
angels do always behold the face of their father. They 
have been much encouraged and strengthened by the devo- 
tedness to this object of the teacher, a few years past, of one 
of our district-schools, who has had the principal manage- 
ment of the Sabbath-school. There is in this institution a 
higher class, under the instruction of the preceptor of the 
Academy. By such aid, teachers of schools and preceptors 
may contribute much to produce a vast amount of good to 
the immortals of the rising generation. 

Joyful would it be to you, and more so to us, if we could 
report the hopeful conversion of some of the pupils. But 
while we must wait, we feel great encouragement to pray 
and labor for this highest blessing. 

Signed in behalf of the Union, 

CALEB J. TENNEY.'' 

The present Superintendent's last report to the church con- 



29 

tains several points, which enable us, here, to compare the 
schools of 1824 and 1866. 

" To the Congregational Church. 

Brethren: — We have in connection with our Sabbath- 
school 299, including 30 officers and teachers. There have 
been two deaths and three additions to the church since our 
last report. The school has contributed 99 dollars for benev- 
olent objects during the year, and 205 monthly papers have 
been distributed. Our library is in a very bad condition; 
most of the books are worn out in the service, and we need 
additions of recent publications. To meet this want, the 
Ecclesiastical Society have appropriated one hundred and 
fi'fty dollars to be used as the teachers may think best. We 
think this appropriation will be felt for good in other ways 
than merely supplying the school with good reading. Those 
who labor in the school feel the need of sympathy from the 
community in which their labor is performed, and the appa- 
rent cheerfulness with which the Society make this unusual 
and liberal appropriation, attests the kind feeling of the 
church and congregation, and must tend to encourage all 
who labor in this work of love. We think that there has 
been a very marked increase of interest in the school, both on 
the ^art of teachers and scholars. Some of this interest is 
undoubtedly owing to the fact that, in providing, on Christ- 
mas, a pleasant reminder of the Greatest Gift ever bestowed 
upon man, we manifested our love for their happiness ; and 
we believe that much of this interest will be permanent. 
Love begets love, and this is one of the good results of an 
effort like the one to which we have just referred. 

We hope that we may be able to gain access to the hearts 
of the scholars, and thus with God's blessing lead many of 
them to Christ. We trust that your interest in us may in- 
crease, that you will daily remember us in your prayers, and 
that the hearts of God's people may soon be made glad by 
hearing many of them praising God with a neio song in their 
mouths. Your brother in Christ, 

R. A. ROBBINS, 
Jan. 7, 1867. Superintendent. 



80 

In 1828, William Kirby was chosen Superintendent, and 
Miss Martha Eiley Assistant Superintendent. In 1829 Ebe- 
nezer Stillman succeeded Mr. Kirby, and Miss Riley was 
again elected Assistant Superintendent, and this continued to 
be the organization of the school until 1834. 

In 1831, Horace Wolcott was chosen Secretary. He was 
one of the original founders and teachers of the school, and 
has continued in his post of instruction to this day,-a remark- 
able instance of life — long devotion to the Sunday-school 
cause. His many pupils and his numerous associates unite 
in paying him our tribute of thanks for his shining example, 
and his fidelity to us in our several generations. Another 
original member,* at first a pupil, afterwards a teacher,. is 
still associated with the school. No one who has had the 
privilege of his instruction, but remembers with respect and 
affection his unvarying punctuality, his gentle and patient 
authority, and his manifest interest in the religious well-being 
of his pupils. May both these respected teachers be spared 
long to continue their invaluable labors. 

In the records of this period there is this brief entry : — 
" The following persons were chosen a Committee of Vigi- 
lance." Appended to this are the names of ten persons.f 
Modern associations at once suggest thought of insubordina- 
tion and defiance of authority, with somewhat arbitrary and 
violent punishments, and curiosity is piqued to learn what 

*Mr. John Loveland, Secretary from 1836 to the present time. 

t The following committee was appointed in 1829 : 

Samuel Galpin, Hannah G. Chester, 

Josiah Bristol, Prudence Treat, 

Robert JRobbins, 2nd, Rhoda Wolcott, 

Joshua Goodrich, Fanny Adams, 

Thomas Griswold, Jr., Mary Ann Butler. 

The Committee for 1831 was more numerous : 

Wm. Smith, Thomas Griswold, Jr., 

Samuel Galpin, Horace Wolcott, 

Asher Robbins, Esq., Elisabeth Butler, 

Joshua Goodrich, Fanny Adams, 

George Stillman, Jr., Mary Crane, 

Abram Skaats, Mary Ann Butler, 

Henry Robbins, Harriet Mosely. 

Com. of Pub. 



crisis of disorder the school passed through. But a subse- 
quent page reveals that the committee had a peaceful mis- 
sion, it being their duty to "bring scholars into the school, 
and to see to punctual attendance." In the discharge of this 
duty they were to visit the families of the town and persuade 
children and youth to join the school ; even, if we construe 
the language literally, to go for them on the Sabbath and 
conduct them in person to the place of assembling. A simi- 
lar committee was appointed by the Hartford S. S. Union, — 
thirteen "men in active business and men of influence ;" and 
with them were associated three of the Selectmen of the 
town. "Some of them " we are told, "used to walk the 
streets Sunday mornings, and if they found any children 
playing or sauntering about, they would urge them to go into 
some one of the Sunday-schools." And here I am reminded 
of other vigilance committees, not appointed by earthly saga- 
city, but by tlie grace of God, to conduct younger brothers 
and sisters to the Sunday-school. Not fully conscious of their 
high calling, they have exercised it nevertheless, bringing up 
to the school, every Sunday, the younger members of the 
house, by the sweet influence of sisterly affection, and of 
manifest self-denial for the happiness of others. May every 
household know the blessing of such vigilant love, and may 
this school have in the future, as it has had in the past, this 
most faithful and most efficient of vigilance committees. Like 
the sisters of Bethany, they have often called on their Lord 
in behalf of their brothers ; and many, like Mary, in excess 
of grateful love, have filled their hearts and homes with the 
sweet incense of thanksgiving to G-od for brothers raised to 
life. Their record of self-sacrifice and sisterly devotion is 
borne on no reports of the school, but it is written inefFace- 
ably on unforgetful hearts. 

In 1834, Ebenezer Stillman and Chester Bulkley were 
elected Superintendents, and Miss Caroline Latimer and Mrs. 
Martha Bulkley Assistant Superintendents. From this time 
Mr. Bulkley was chosen Superintendent, at first with assist- 
ants, but in later years without, until 1848. In August of 
this year he resigned the charge of the school on account of 



32 

ill-health. So long an association in the cares and conduct 
of the school could not be severed without calling forth feel- 
ings of tender regret and words of kindly memory from the 
teachers. In a series of appropriate resolutions they ex- 
pressed their "regret at his resignation ;" "their appreciation 
of his pecuniary aid, his labors, his counsels and his prayers, 
all freely bestowed ;" their pleasant recollection of the "profit- 
able meetings under his roof and around his fireside, for 
prayer and the study of the Scriptures ;" and "their sincere 
sympathy with him in his sickness and other trials." Mr. 
Bulkley's sickness terminated in death in Dec. 1848. Deacon 
Ebenezer Stillman followed his former associate to the grave 
six years later, in Dec. 1854. Thus in the twenty-four years 
between the formal organization of the school and the resig- 
nation of Mr. Bulkley, there were only four Superintendents. 
Only the first of these is living, Mr. William Guild ; and he 
is with us to-day, to participate in this celebration, and to 
witness the growth and prosperity of the school. His survi- 
ving associates and their successors, tender him a grateful 
and friendly welcome. 

Mr. Leonard R. Wells was chosen Superintendent in Aug. 
1848, and continued to serve in this capacity till May 1850, 
when he resigned, and Mr. William Willard succeeded him 
in the chief management of the school. Mr. Willard dis- 
charged the duties of this office till his removal from the town 
in the summer of 1851. Mr. Elisha Johnson then became 
Superintendent, and was continued in this office till his resig- 
nation in Jan. 1855, when the present Superintendent, Mr. 
Richard A. Robbins, was elected by the teachers to fill his 
place. 

It were ungracious to ask the Sabbath-school to display 
proofs of its usefulness. As well might we ask the sun to 
show cause for his shining. We reap unconsciously on every 
hand the diffused and multiform benefits of the institution, 
which nutured us in our childhood, and which opens an 
avenue to varied culture and grace for every member of the 
church. It would be gratifying to discover in the records of 
a continuous report of accessions to the church from the 



33 

school. But even such a report would not exhaust the ac- 
count of its benefits. In this chief item of good, its influ- 
ence reaches wider than its own members, and goes down 
farther in time than the period of a pupil's connection with it. 
There is no doubt that the school has been contributing, 
directly and indirectly, to the enlargement of the church, 
from its earliest years to the present time. In the eleven 
years previous to 1867, there were reported by the Superin- 
tendent, eighty-six conversions, and additions to the church. 

This would be nearly an average of eight a year. Assum- 
ing this to be the average for the fifty years, it would make 
the number of four hundred additions from the school dur- 
ing the half century. A reference to the church-manual en- 
courages us to think that this estimate is not above tlie exact 
numbers. 

But mere numbers do not carry weight. The power of 
the Sabbath-school for 2:ood lies in the impulses aroused and 
the latent energies unfolded. The great achievement of the 
Sunday-school consists in awakening in the pupil an intelli- 
gent enthusiasm for his Divine Master, and for his Master's 
cause. It lies among the possibilities of the school to bind the 
scholar in loyal attachment to the person of our Lord. It is 
an aim of the school to make the young Christian an intelli- 
gent citizen in the kingdom of God. No science of numbers 
can compute the usefulness of the Sunday-school in this di- 
rection. It is as diffusive as the light, and as penetrating as 
the warmth of the sun. 



PRESENTATION. 

At the close of the discourse, a small table, on which stood 
some articles concealed from view, w-as brought in front of 
the pulpit. John M. Morris, a former pupil of Mr. Wolcott, 
stepped forward and said : — 

Rev. Dr. Bushnell, in an address before the New England 
Society in New York, impressively develops this thought: 
"The founders great in their Unconsciousness." 
5 



34 

They had no dream of an independent Commonwealth 
whose growth, intelligence, freedom and prowess and glory 
in war should overmatch the world. They hoped and pray- 
ed only for a Colony of His Majesty the King, wherein 
they and their children might worship God as they pleased. 
They faced ocean, winter, grim hunger and savage men for 
God and religion. They were heroes, not by sight, but by 
faith. 

But we to-day, proud citizens of a colossal Republic, bap- 
tized anew in the blood of our bravest and best, cleansed from 
its great iniquity, crystallizing now into the grandest structure 
of genuine freedom seen in all the ages, — we declare that 
the founders were great, and all the more sublimely great, 
because they laid these broad foundations and knew it not. 

These founders were the fathers and mothers of other 
founders, who were also great in their unconsciousness. Such, 
in their sphere, were they who established our Sabbath school. 
They had no prophetic vision of the great and blessed work 
the school was to do. They were making an experiment. 
They had heard some tidings of good from abroad, and that 
was all. Ministers and prominent church members looked on 
with jealous eyes ; while not a few made open opposition. 
But, obeying the faith of the good against the judgment of 
the great, they calmly went forward. They had no ambition 
to gratify, no personal ends to gain, no hope of future honor. 
Nor did a trumpet call rouse them as for battle. Stimulus 
and encouragement were in their hearts, alone, and they went 
forward, simply teaching and trusting the word of God. 

We, at the end of half a century, finding our school the 
pride, the joy, the hope and the nursery of our church, pro- 
nounce these founders of ours to have been great, and all 
the more truly great because they, by the grace of God, laid 
these beautiful foundations and knew it not. 

Happy are w^e, this day, that one of these founders, Horace 
Wolcott, whom we all revere and love, yet survives ; that in 
his faith, his patience and his fidelity, he so fitly exemplifies 
that little band, heroic in their quiet and sacred purpose ; and 
that in honoring him, we. can so appropriately honor them. 



35 

And now, venerated and beloved teacher, we make public 
exhibition of our respect and affection to you, as a most worthy 
representative of those who, in faith and prayer, established 
our prosperous school. We wish, also, and we wish par- 
ticularly, to make direct testimonial to you, our dear old 
teacher and friend. Here are we, old and young, men and 
women, representing hundreds who have sat at your feet and 
learned from your lips. That we, by our heedlessness, may 
have many times pained your gentle heart, is the only sad 
thought we now have. And you will forgive us. Nay, you 
forgave us then ; or, rather, remembered only to pray the 
more fervently that the good seed might take root in us. We 
to-day tell you that the good seed has taken root ; it has 
sprung up, borne some fruit in the hearts of all, and in the 
hearts of rnany the immortal fruit of faith in Jesus Christ. 
Blessed, venerable man ! a Sabbath-school teacher for fifty 
years, and in all that time faith, patience, zeal and the favor 
of God hate never failed you ! 

But we check ourselves. We cannot say to you all that 
we would. We know -that you, in Christian humbleness, 
shrink from this public manifestation, and hear our words of 
affectionate commendation 

* * * '' with secret shame," as 

" Praise thatpaineth more than blame." 

Leaving yoar own heart, then, to supply all the rest, accept 
now from your grateful scholars, this gift. [^Lifting the cloth 
and disclosing a silver tea set.'] It will be dear to you ; it 
will be precious to your children and to your children's chil- 
dren. When your- little granddaughter shall preside, with 
matronly grace, over her household, slie will sometimes adorn 
her table with this service, and she will say to the little ones, 
eager to know, " Children, these were presented, in the brick 
church, to your great-grandfather, by his Sabbath-school 
scholars ; for he, remember, was a Sabbath-school teacher for 
more than fifty years." Then she will tell them all the pleas- 
ant story ; and they, perchance, seeing in the polished sur- 
face, reflected, as it were, your shining example, shall get the 
purpose to be themselves Sabbath-school teachers, and this 



36 

purpose, growing nobler and stronger with years, may lead 
them, at length, with unselfish and holy souls, in your blessed 
footsteps. 

Take our gift home, then, beloved teacher. Let it, a token 
of our grateful love, delight your heart a little while, until 
the Divine Master shall call you unto himself, and present you 
with that inestimable gift, a crown of righteousness gemmed 
with priceless jewels — even with souls redeemed. 

Mr. Wolcott, rising,* with unaffected surprise and modesty 
responded substantially as follows : 

" My dear scholars and friends : This is to me entirely 
unexpected. I thank you for your kindness. I shall always 
be happy when I think of your beautiful gift and of tliose 
who gave it. 

Yet I feel as though I was unworthy of so much kindness 
and praise. When I think of the solemn responsibilities of 
a Sunday-school teacher, and the qualifications which one 
should have, I feel that I fall far short of what a teacher 
ought to be. But if God has been pleased to make my in- 
structions in the Sabbath-school the means of doing some 
good to the young, I am deeply thankful. To Him be the 
praise. 

In closing, I can say to you, my dear scholars, no better 
words than those of the beloved apostle, in his old age, " Lit- 
tle children, love one another."! 



*Mr. Wolcott had been sedulously kept in utter ignorance of the intended 
presentation. 

t Note. — Mr. Wolcott, bein^ requested by the committee to communicate any- 
thing he desired to place on record, adds these words of wise counsel, to which 
his long experience and sincere love of the Sabbath-school give great weight ; 

" The teachers' meeting, established by our first superintendent, Mr. Guild, has 
not, it seems to me, been sufficiently recognized in the history of this Sabbath- 
school. It was held, at first, on Friday evening of each week, and afterwards on 
Saturday evening. It was generally opened and closed with prayer and singing. 
The Superintendent acted as teacher, and the teachers as scholars, and thus we went 
over the lesson of the next Sabbath. The meeting was sustained until within a 
few years. It was attended and encouraged mainly by females. It was produc 
tire of very great good. 



37 

The services were concluded by singing two stanzas of the 
hymn, " Fifty Years to Come." 

The Superintendent then extended a cordial invitation to all 
present to go to the tent and partake of refreshments. 

To the mothers let me say a word. No class in society, in my opinion, has the 
power to build up the cause of Christ which they possess. The mother who takes 
her child by the hand to her closet, and on her knees, with her hand on its head, 
implores the Divine blessing, will not offer her prayer in vain. How often we 
hear men and women, in after life, when brought to reflection, refer to the prayers 
and counsel of a mother, in their childhood ! 

I rejoice that, through the goodness of Almighty God, we have been permitted 
to see this jubilee day. But it is to me a solemn thought that so few who began 
life with us, and have been associated with us in this Sabbath-school, are yet pres- 
ent with us. We, the older teachers, must soon step out of the ranks. I would 
like to see you, my young friends, voluntarily stepping in. In punctuality and 
perseverance I have set you an example which I think you may safely follow. In 
spiritual mindedness and aptness to teach, I pray God to make you, by his grace, 
far superior to me. 

My tottering frame reminds me daily of my short stay here. When life's work 
is done, may we all be prepared for the first Resurrection ; for it is written, the 
dead in Christ shall rise first. That we may die in Christ, we must live in Christ. 
That is the duty we have now to do. 



III. 

AT THE TENT 



The Divine blessing was invoked by Rev. Mark Tucker, 
D. D., (pastor of the church for ten years and a half and a 
resident of Wethersfield.) 

The collation was heartily relished by young and old : and 
the committee of publication, having had no hand in its 
preparation, may say that in appearance, variety, and quality 
it is rarely equaled. 

Moving about in familiar converse, the old scholars, the 
alumni, were surprised and delighted to meet so many school- 
mates and old-time friends ; while in talk of former Sunday- 
school days and in their own happy greetings the present 
members of the school found equal delight. 

After the repast the melodeon was brought from the vestry, 
the Superintendent called the chatting groups to order and 
gave out a hymn. He then introduced William Guild, 
the first Superintendent, a genial white-haired man, evidently 
a Sunday-school veteran. He said : — 

My friends, I did not anticipate the very kind greeting I 
have received from many of my former pupils and friends, 
supposing that a separation of forty years had nearly, if not 
quite, effaced from their memory my very name. It is exceed- 
ingly gratifying to me to find it otherwise. We have assem- 
bled expressly to review the results of past labors in the 
Sabbath-school. At an early period in its history, it was 
my privilege to be associated with the school as its superin- 
tendent. 



39 

At that period of Sabbath-school instruction, our great ob- 
ject was to store the opening mind of childhood and youth 
with Bible thoughts and lead the tender lambs to the fold of 
the kind Shepherd. The Bible, the Assembly's Catechism 
and Emerson's doctrinal and historical catechisms were our 
text books. Libraries had not been established, and suitable 
books were not to be obtained to constitute a Sabbath School 
library. When forty dollars were placed in my hand to pur- 
chase books for a library, I could not find suitable books, to 
that amount, in the Hartford book-stores ; but obtained such 
as I could, and commenced a library. I soon found the dis- 
tribution of books to be a great annoyance. When a teacher 
was earnestly engaged in securing the attention of his class 
and had nearly or quite succeeded, the librarian would pre- 
sent his books, and the miiids of all would instantly be di- 
verted. We finally adopted the plan of delivering the books, 
during a specified hour, on Saturday afternoon. The charac- 
ter of many of the books published for these libraries and their 
distribution I have ever found a serious evil. I did not then, 
and will not now, attempt to state any method of obviating 
the difficulty. The teacher that makes little or no prepara- 
tion for the hour of instruction, will find relief in distributing 
books. The teacher who is intent upon winning souls to 
Christ, does not desire aid from the library, to any consider- 
able extent. Facts in the history of this Sabbath School 
justify this statement I think, some of them being still dis- 
tinctly in my recollection, and perhaps were never known to 
many out of the circle in which they occurred. 

We held a regular meeting of teachers for carefully study- 
ing the lesson and prayer. When individuals were discovered 
in the school that appeared interested, and needed more defi- 
nite instruction than could be given in the brief hour of the 
regular school exercise, they were invited to meet the super- 
intendent at his house, at some suitable time. On one occa- 
sion, a circle of young girls came together on a Saturday 
afternoon. Soon after I had commenced conversation with 
them, they all appeared so tender and so overcome with emo- 
tion that it was evident I could give no instruction with effect. 



40 

I said to the girls, I will leave you for a few moments and you 
can confer together, and I will come in again. When 1 re- 
turned, no one was in the room. They had all retired to an 
adjoining room, as I understood, to offer prayer together. I 
then found them composed, and in a state of mind to receive 
instruction. This was to me a deeply interesting occasion, 
and one that I have no doubt made salutary and permanent 
impressions. 

At one time, a class of older girls was selected to meet me 
at my school room on Sabbath morning, for studying the bible 
and particular religious teaching. Some of these became 
hopeful christians. At another time, a few promising boys 
met me on Sabbath morning for bible teaching. I was en- 
couraged in this way of teaching a small circle, separated 
from all that could divert the inind, as often the unbidden tear, 
like a dew-drop, would be seen trembling in the attentive eye, 
while the ear was intent to receive every thought expressed by 
the teacher, fully in sympathy with the affectionate pupil. 

On one Sabbath, when the members of the wliole school 
appeared more than usually interested in the brief remarks 
made at the close of recitations, I said to the school, if your 
parents are willing, you may come to the school-room half an 
hour before the meeting that is to be held in the lecture-room 
before sun-set. 1 told them that I would then talk to them 
again on the subject that evidently interested them. Most of 
the school assembled at the time appointed, and after talking 
to them as long as I thought it was desirable, I dismissed 
them, either to return home or go to the conference meeting. 
only a very few left their seats. I then continued my re- 
marks, until I supposed that I should be expected at the 
other place, when I made another effort to have them leave 
the room, but it was apparent that they went away with re- 
luctance. 

These are some of the reminiscences of the Wethersfield 
Sabbath-school, in my memory, that occurred between 1823 
and 1827, that force the conviction upon my mind that God 
employs his own simple word as the great instrumentality of 
convincing and converting souls, and when presented to the 



41 

mind of children and youth, in humble reliance upon the 
accompanying influence of thq, Holy Spirit, sought in believ- 
ing prayer, the great object of the teacher will be obtained . 

It is a very serious question, whether the multitude of 
books and periodicals with which we are literally flooded, are 
not doing more to efiace religious impressions from the minds 
of the young, than to promote a taste for the study of the 
word of God, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, 
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

After singing, Eev. Mr. Andrews made a brief address, 
earnestly commending the thought and tone of the discourse 
by Rev. Mr. Welch, and further illustrating the truth and 
vital importance of viewing the church as Christ's family. 

He closed with a motion to ask a copy of the discourse 
for publication ; and further moved that a committee be ap- 
pointed to publish it, together with other addresses and a 
report of the exercises of the occasion. Both motions were 
unanimously carried, and Richard A. Robbins, William Wil- 
lard and John M. Morris were designated as the committee 
on publication. 

The singing of another hymn was succeeded by remarks 
From Leonard R. Welles, (a scholar at the organization, a 
teacher for many years, and Superintendent for nearly two 
years.) He spoke in a strain of affecting reminiscence of 
those with whom he had labored in the school ; some of them 
now toiling in distant fields, some near by resting in the 
quiet church-yard. 

The children sung. 

Rev. John Marsh then briefly and forcibly set forth the perils 
which environ the young in these days, and counseled all to 
temperance and godliness. 

John M. Morris moved a vote of thanks to the ladies for 
the plentiful supply of delicacies which they bad so skillfully 
6 



42 

prepared and so gracefully served ; and to the Superintend- 
ent, Richard A. Robbins, and his efficient co-workers for the 
good judgment and completeness with which their plans had 
been made and carried out. The vote was passed unani- 
mously. 

In conclusion all united in singing, — 

" Praise God from whom all blessings flow." 



Thus closed a delightful commemorative festival. No fail- 
ure or accident marred the pleasure of the occasion. The 
cloudless day, set between two wet and dismal days of a 
month unusually rainy, seemed to mark the smiling favor of 
the Saviour God who loves children. The presence of hun- 
dreds of former scholars and teachers was a gratifying evi- 
dence that the Sunday-school is loved and long cherished. 
Many devout laborers were cheered on in the Sabbath-school 
work, and all were ready, with grateful rejoicing hearts, to 
say : — 

'" Then be our song, our glorious song, 
And let its music gladly flow, 
The Sunday School, whose links were twined 
Just fifty years ago. 



APPENDIX A. 



CONSTITUTION 

OF THE 

WETHERSFIELD SABBATH-SCHOOL UNION, 

ADOPTED ON FRIDAY EVENING, SEPT. 17tH, 1824. 

Art. I. This society shall be called the Wethersfield Sabbath- 
School Union. 

Art II. Each teacher must sustain a fair character for personal 
piety, and shall be chosen by a unanimous vote of the Society. If 
any teacher wishes to withdraw from the Society, a request to this 
effect shall be presented at a teachers' meeting, when a dismissal shall 
be granted. 

Art. III. The officers of the society shall be a Superintendent 
and a Secretary, who shall also be Treasurer. 

Art. IV. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to preside at 
their respective meetings, and to see that all the regulations of the 
school are carried into effect. 

Art. V. It shall be the duty of the Secretary and Treasurer to 
keep a record of the operations of their respective meetings ; the 
condition of the school ; to keep a correct account of the receipts and 
expenditures of the Society, and to make an annual report of the 
same to the Society. 

Art. VI. It shall be the duty of the teachers to assemble every 
Friday evening for the purpose of prayer, and of devising plans to 
advance the interests of ihe school. 

Art. VII. As the welfare of this school depends (under God) 
upon the promptitude, zeal and perseverance of the teachers, they shall 
consider themselves bound to observe this constitution and such rules 
as may, from time to time, be adopted, to be diligent and punctual in 
their attendance at the meetings of the Society and at the school, and 
by all proper means to promote the best interests of both. 



44 

Art. VIII. . The officers shall be chosen at the annual meetings 
of the Society, which shall be held on the first Friday of March. 
Art. IX. The Constitution shall be signed by all the members. 

(Signed,) (Signed,) 

EZEKIEL WILLIAMS, CAROLINE M. LATIMER, 

OTIS STORRS, CATHARINE BRIGDEN, 

THEODORE M. DWIGHT, FANNY STILLMAN, 

HORACE WOLCOTT, JULIA STILLMAN, 

ALBERT HALE, EMILY WILLIAMS, 

WILLIAM GUILD. SARAH WILLIAMS, 

EUNICE B. BUTLER. 



EULES. 

1. It shall be the duty of the Teachers to attend at the school 
precisely at the ringing of the first bell, every Sabbath afternoon. 

2. The school shall be opened with prayer, and shall be closed by 
an address, when convenient, and by singing. 

3. It shall be the duty of the teachers to hear the lessons of their 
scholars without prompting^ and keep a record in their class-books, 
of the punctuality of attendance, and the number of verses learned 
by each scholar, to use all means in their power to secure their confi- 
dence and affection, and especially to converse with them in a plain, 
familiar manner, on the subject of their lessons and religion. 

4. The classes, in ordinary cases, shall consist of six scholars 
only. 

5. No teachers will leave their classes to converse with other 
teachers or with visitors until the school has closed. 

6. Those teachers who are absent from the meetings of the So- 
ciety, and from the school on the Sabbath, must render a satisfactory 
excuse at a subsequent meeting of the teachers. (Repealed, March 
2d, 1828.J 

7. If any of the children are absent from the school, it shall be 
the duty of their teachers to call upon their parents during the week, 
learn the reasons of their absence, and report them to the teachers' 
meeting on the next Friday evening. 

8. In their recitations, the children shall be restricted to twenty-^ 
four verses of Scripture. (This ride was often broken and a much 
larger number recited, and by other arrangements, soon became void.) 



45 

9. No teachers shall^be admitted|unless they have|been proposed 
at least one week at the teachers' meeting. (Repealed, March 2d, 
1828.J 

10. No teacher shall have liberty to dismiss a scholar from the 
school. 

11. No scholar shall leave a class for any purpose whatever, with- 
out leave from the teacher of the class or the Superintendent, 

12. Any scholars necessarily detained from the school, may recover 
their standing on their return, by reciting an additional number of 
verses until they make up the deficiency. (Soon fell into disuse.) 

13. It shall be the duty of each teacher to make monthly returns 
concerning his class, to the Secretary, according to rule third, stating 
the increase or diminution of his class, and the time of the admission 
or leaving of the scholars. 

14. It shall be the duty of each teacher, in case of necessary ab- 
sence from the school, to engage a substitute to perform their duties. 



46 



APPENDIX B/ 



OFFICERS, TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS 

OF THE UNION IN 1824. 



Superintendent, 
WILLIAM GUILD.* 

Secretary, 
THEODORE M. DWIGHT. 



Teachers,! 



James Francis, 
George Prior, 
Albert Hale, 
Abraham Crane, Jr., 
Leonard R. Welles, 
Robert Robbins, 
Horace Wolcott, 
Walter Francis, 
Joshua Goodrich, 
Joseph Loveland, 
Samuel Galpin, 
William Cutler, 
Edward Bulkley, 
Elizabeth Williams, 
Charlotte Butler, 
Hannah G. Chester, 
Mary Welles, 



Mary Williams, 
Elizabeth Mygatt, 
Fanny Stillman, 
Wealthy Willard, 
Catharine Brigden, 
Sarah W. Stillman, 
Jerusha Stillman, 
Adaline Butler, 
E. Butler, 
H. Belden, 
Abigail Williams, 
M. Peaseley, 
A. H. Hurlbut, 
Martha Riley, 
Sarah Hale, 
Julia Stillman, 
Rebecca Mitchell. 



*An exact copy of the record. 

* Elected Friday evening, October 24th. 

t These teachers did not have classes at the same time. There seem to have 
been frequent changes. The average number of teachers was fourteen. There 
was also a number of changes among the scholars. 



47 



SCHOLARS , 



No. BOT8. 


Age. 


Xo. BOYS. 


Age. 


1 Thomas Welles, (1) 


15 


33 Zechariah Larkin, (1) 


7 


2 Charles TTelles, (1)" 


13 


34 Charles Woodward. 


9 


3 Jonathan Chester, 


10 


35 Caleb J. Tenney, Jr.. 


8 


4 Peter Stillman, 


14 


36 Horace Stillman, 


9 


5 Otis Stillman, 


12 


37 James Lockwood, 


11 


6 Samuel Stillman, (died] 


no 


38 Sylyester Williams, 


12 


7 Jonathan Stillman, 


11 


39 Charles Badger, 


10 


8 William J. Tenney, (1) 


12 


40 John Francis, 1st, 


11 


9 John Miner, 


12 


41 Horace Latimer, 


12 


10 Albert Galpin, 


12 


42 Alexander Child, 


13 


1 1 Charles Stillman, (1) 


12 


43 Charles Hastings, 


12 


12 Henry Stillman. 


9 


44 John Welles, (1) 




13 Courtland Cowles, 


9 


45 Wilson Bailey, 


15 


14 Otis Warner, 


10 


46 William Woodhouse, 


9 


15 Samuel Warner, 


8 


47 Samuel Woodliouse, 


^ 


16 John Galpin, 


8 


48 Thomas Welles, 2d, (1) 




17 John Smith, 


11 


49 Henry S. Welles, 




18 Edwin Smith. 


6 


50 Samuel Galpin, (1) 


11 


19 John Francis, 2d, 


7 


51 Daniel A. Shepard, 


14 


20 Charles L. Shepherd, 


13 


52 Cornelius Stillman, 


10 


21 Lewis Deming, 


16 


53 Albert Welles, (1) 


9 


22 Henry Hanmer, 


10 


54 Edward Welles, (1) 


- 


23 John Weeks, 


6 


do Charles Putnam, (1) 


15 


24 Francis Shepard, 


8 


56 Samuel Goodrich. (1) 


i 


25 Henry Bailey, 


8 


57 John Carter, (1) 


12 


26 Henry Lock wood, 




58 Atwood Brace (1) 


10 


27 Henry Wright, 


9 


59 Richard Montague, (1) 


8 


28 Leyi Butler, 


10 


60 Butler Deming, (1) 


8 


29 Charles Butler, 


8 


61 Austin Francis, (1) 


11 


30 George Mygatt, 


8 


62 John H. Webber. (1) 


11 


31 Wilham Morgan, (1) 


14 


63 Charles Miner, (1) 


11 


32 George Francis, 


9 


64 Charles Woodhouse, (I) 


11 


No. GIRLS. 


Age. 


No. GIRLS. 


Age. 


1 Nancy Latimer, (1) 


14 


4 Eliza Hanmer, 


11 


2 Rhoda Stillman, 


14 


5 Lucy Francis, 


13 


3 Nancy Hanmer, (1) 


14 


6 Abby Butler, 


12 



(1) Left the school during the year. 



48 



No. GIRLS. 


Age. 


No. GIELS. 


Age. 


7 Harriet Strong, 


12 


47 Clarissa Larkin, (1) 


10 


8 Ruth Tenney, 


10 


48 Loena Erjadbent, (1) 


10 


9 Lucy Loveland, 


12 


49 Abigail Wright, (1) 


9 


10 Jerusha Welles, (1) 


12 


50 Nancy Lockwood, 


9 


11 Mary Wolcott, (1) 


11 


51 Catharine Mitchell 


6 


12 Lucy Stillman, (1) 


11 


52 Prudence Welles, (1) 


7 


13 Mehetabel Blinn, (1) 


11 


53 Mary Butler, 


12 


14 Mary Ann Palmer, 


12 


54 Abby Potter, (1) 


12 


15 Prudence Welles, (1) 


11 


55 Harriet Coleman, 


11 


16 Ann Eliza Smith, 


10 


56 AnnWilloughby(l) 


10 


17 Sarah Weeks, (1) 


13 


57 Charlotte Welles, 


9 


18 Martha Brigden, 


13 


58 Cornelia Montague, 


8 


19 Elizabeth Griswold, 


11 


59 Sophia Palmer, 


7 


20 MarySkaats, 


8 


60 Elizabeth Thrasher, (1) 


12 


21 Maria Coleman, 


14 


61 Frances Bristol, 


7 


22 Esther Griswold, (1) 


12 


62 Sarah Fowler, (1) 


12 


23 Martha Stillman, 


6 


63 Mary Ann Wright, 




24 Mary Ann Mygatt, 


10 


64 Frances Bunce, (1) 


9 


25 Lucy Mygatt, 


12 


65 Harriet Stillman, 


6 


26 Jane Bailey, 


5 


66 Hepzibah Porter, 


11 


27 Mary Larkin, 


12 


67 Maria Rhodes, 




28 Celestia Belden, (1) 


15 


68 Maria Hanmer, 


11 


29 Lucy Welles, (1) 


14 


69 Hannah Hanmer, 


9 


30 Sarah Welles, (1) 


12 


70 Laura Warner, (1) 


12 


31 Susannah Skaats, 


10 


71 Jennefete Fortune, (1) 


10 


32 Caroline Larkin, (1) 




72 Jane Robertson, 


8 


33 Jane Hayford, (1) 




73 Julia Robertson, 


6 


34 Elizabeth Crane, (1) 


9 


74 Sally Wolcott, (1) 


9 


35 Sarah Adams, 


10 


75 Clarissa Clapp (1) 


11 


36 Emily Adams, 


8 


76 Maria Montague, (1) 


10 


37 Lucy Butler, 


12 


77 Almira Kelly, (1) 


12 


38 Elizabeth Butler, (1) 


10 


78 Fidelia Crittenden, 


12 


39 Honor Francis, (1) 


9 


79 Jane Hayford. 


12 


40 Emily Curtis, (i) 


12 


80 Jerusha Beadle, (1) 


9 


41 Martha Butler, 


7 


81 Cornelia Blinn, 


10 


42 Olive Welles, 


9 


82 Rebecca Squires, 


13 


43 Eunice Squires, (1) 


7 


83 Martha Montague, 




44 Martha Squires, (1) 


5 


84 Mary Warner, 


14 


45 Maria Thrasher, 


7 


85 Clarissa Weeks, 


9 


46 Elizabeth Haight, 


11 







49 



APPENDIX C. 

A few extracts from the early records may be interesting. 

"October 10th, 1824. Sabbath-school Library opened yesterday 
(Saturday) for the first time." (The books were given out on Satur- 
day in order that the distribution might not disturb the school on 
Sunday. None but regular attendants were permitted to draw 
books.) 

" October 24th, 1824. School closed with remarks giving direc- 
tions to the scholars respecting behaviour, and with reference to re- 
moving the school to the meeting-house, and with singing." 

" October 31st, 1824. Removed from the conference-room to the 
gallery of the meeting-house for the winter, (probably because the 
conference-room had no stove.) The cause of so many absentees 
is supposed to be the want of clothes suitable to the weather." 

" November 14th 1824. No recitations on account of our seats 
being occupied by the singers. Our school was removed to the Lan- 
casterian school-room, * * * After which some remarks were 
made, then prayer and singing." 

" April 10th, 1825. The absence of so many of the children when 
the weather is lavorable can be accounted for in no other way but the 
want of interest in the subject." 

"June 19th, 1825. One of the scholars manifested a very sullen 
and refractory disposition, which called into exercise the forbearance 
and patience of those who would promote his present and future well- 
being." 

"August 14th, 1825. For a few weeks past the children have had 
questions proposed to them to be answered on the succeeding Sab- 
bath, which they have done to the great satisfaction of the Superin- 
tendent." 

" January 1st, 1826. Two dollars contributed to support a school in 
Syria, under the care of the American missionaries." 

"June 14th, 1827. The boys are this winter more punctual in 
their attendance and pay better attention to general remarks than the 
girls. Formerly it has been the reverse." 

7 



50 

"June 4th, 1828. The Holy Spirit is convincing some of the 
youth among us of sin ; a few have, as we trust, devoted themselves 
to God." 

"June 28th, 1828. We are encouraged to hope that there is one 
convert among the scholars of our school. Now let all the hearts of 
the teachers be filled with praise to God." 

" December 10th, 1828. A proposition was made to bestow a num- 
ber of the Youth's Friend monthly upon the individual who should 
obtain five new scholars." 

" December 28th, 1828. School addressed on the importance of 
preparation for death — one member of the school being at the point 
of death," (a child of Stephen B. Goodyear, which died on the .30th.) 

"January 1st, 1829. The scholars contributed for the support of 
the school $1.57." (These contributions were continued for several 
years, but were generally much smaller.) 

"April 8th, 1832. The teachers agreed to pray for one male and 
one female teacher and their classes each week." 

" February 22nd, 1834. The Superintendent unwell. No prayer 
in the school." 

"May 31st, 1834. Children contributed for missionary work in 
the Western Valley." (Amount not stated.) 

"July 26th, 1835. Infant school commenced." (By August 25th, 
it numbered fifty.) 

"August 2nd, 1835. Bible class of thirty persons formed." 

"March 17th, 1839. Two Bible classes formed — one of thirteen 
young men, the other of twenty-five young ladies." {By midsummer 
the class of young men was reduced to five, and by winter to two ; 
and on the 5tli of April, 1840, was disbanded. The class of young 
ladies kept an average of eighteen up to 1844, when the record ends.) 



u 





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THE 




SEMI-CENTENNIAL 



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Congregational Sabbath School 



IN 



WETHERSFIELD, CONN 



.A^ugust Slst, 1S07. 




HARTFORD: 
CASE, LOCKWOOD AND COMPANY, PRINTERS 

1867. 
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